«Ma passion… ma folie dominante» Stosch, Winckelmann, and the

MDCCC 1800
Vol. 3 – Luglio 2014
ISSN 2280-8841
«Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
Stosch, Winckelmann, and the Allure of the Engraved Gems of the Ancients
Ulf R. Hansson
Abstract This article examines the scholarly and collecting activities of Philipp von Stosch (1691-1757), with focus on ancient
engraved gems. It traces Stosch’s life and work from his early travels and Roman period to his death in Florence, and includes discussions on his milestone publication, Gemmae antiquae caelatae (1724), his own remarkable collection of gem originals, pastes and
impressions, and Winckelmann’s work on it, published as Description des pierres gravées du feu Baron de Stosch (1760).
Contents 1. Introduction. — 2. Philipp von Stosch. — 3. The Gemmae Antiquae Caelatae Project. — 4. Stosch’s Own Gem Collection. — 5. Winckelmann’s Catalogue.
1 Introduction
In the 18th century, to publish a learned text on the
engraved gems of the Ancients was an excellent
way of positioning oneself in antiquarian circles
within the Republic of Letters.1 Over the course
of the century, the bibliography on this topic grew
considerably and included works by some of the period’s leading scholars, as is clear from e.g. PierreJean Mariette’s Traité des pierres gravées from the
mid-century and Christoph Gottlieb von Murr’s Bibliothèque glyptographique from the early 1800s
(Mariette 1750, vol. 1, pp. 241-244; Murr 1804).
People collected, copied, studied, published and
discussed gems like never before. These miniature
artworks had many advantages. They had survived,
often intact and in vast numbers, from all ancient
cultures and time periods; the images they carried,
either engraved into the surface of the stone (intaglio) or carved in relief (cameo), were soon recognized as one of the richest visual sources available
to Greek and Roman mythology, portraiture, and
ancient iconography in general (Gurlitt 1831 [1798],
pp. 75-76). These images could be easily reproduced
mechanically by pressing the engraved surface of
the stone into a softer material. Indeed, the images
were originally intended to be seen in impression
rather than in original, and thus the reproduced
image of a sealstone or engraved gem could be seen
as a crucial part of the original artistic intention.
As these precious originals were hidden away in
various princely and private collections around Europe, gem impressions and casts in various materials such as sealing wax, sulphur, vitreous paste or
plaster constituted a convenient reference material
for scholars and collectors, and collected in boxes they also became attractive souvenirs for grand
tourists to carry home from the city of Rome. Gem
impressions and casts moreover seemed to solve
the frustrating problem of inaccurate drawings and
prints of gems, which more often than not conveyed
the style of the copying artist rather than that of the
ancient gem-engraver. Whereas antiquarian interest in gem-engraving had initially focused mostly on
subject-matter and iconography, formal and stylistic
aspects became increasingly important as the century drew on, and in every new book that appeared
on the subject, the illustrations of earlier publications were therefore habitually criticized for being
inadequate in this respect. Both subject-matter and
style seemed to closely follow developments in other artistic media, which meant that gems could be
used by students of ancient art to compensate for
lost or fragmentarily preserved classical sculpture.2
1 I thank the Swedish Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and the Birgit and Gad R ausing Foundation for supporting
this ongoing research project. I also wish to thank the anonymous reviewer for valuable suggestions.
2 «Car les Anciens n’admiroient pas moins l’Art de graver sur de si petites Pierres, que celui de faire des grandes Statues de
Marbre; au contraire» (Stosch 1724, p. XV).
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Engraved gems were moreover sometimes the work
of highly accomplished artists like the Greek engravers Apollonides, Kronius, Dioskurides and Pyrgoteles, mentioned by Pliny (Nat. 37.8). At times,
these and other master-engravers had signed their
works with their own name, as had been shown by
the French antiquarian Charles César Baudelot de
Dairval in a much discussed study of gems inscribed
with the name «Solon», which appeared on masterworks like the famous «Strozzi Medusa» (Baudelot de Dairval 1717).3 So, the engraved gems of
the Ancients attracted interest from scholars and
collectors, from artists seeking inspiration, and
increasingly from cultured people in general. This
steadily growing interest soon resulted in a flourishing market for copies, pastiches and downright
forgeries, especially in Rome, where the weekly
market in piazza Navona was full of such ‘ancient’
gems.4 The artist Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755),
who also knew the art of gem-engraving, even called
the trade in such fakes a «Roman tradition» (quoted
in Justi 1872, p. 335).5 Individual gems could fetch
very high prices indeed, at times exceeding those
paid for classical sculpture, and in the latter half of
the century, some dealers and ciceroni, like the notorious Thomas Jenkins (Smith [1828] 1949, p. 122),
found it profitable to specialize in this business.6
2 Philipp von Stosch
But let us return to the early decades of the century and to one of the instrumental figures in these
developments. To publish something on the topic of
gems was precisely what the young Philipp Stosch
(1691-1757) from Küstrin in Brandenburg set out
to do, on good advice from the Greffier of the Dutch
States General, François Fagel (1659-1746),7 who
was also a renowned scholar and coin collector, and
who became Stosch’s patron and mentor in what
was to become the young man’s two main activities
in life, Antiquaria and Diplomatica.8 Stosch never
married, and neither did any of the other protagonists in this story. Winckelmann’s biographer Carl
Justi describes him as epitomizing those 18th-century «adventurers» whose existence was possible
only in that particular century.9 He was a tall, thinly
built, slightly hypochondriac and witty man, who
famously kept a pet owl in his home. He was called
many flattering things, such as Royal Polish Court
Councillor, Royal British Minister (Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, 5, 1754, p. 1), aristocrat («veramente
barone, anzi Baronissimo»),10 diplomat, literatus,
antiquarian, polyhistor, bibliophile, connoisseur,
collector etc., as well as less flattering things like
heretic, spy, forger and thief (e.g. MacKay Quynn
1941). Horace Walpole called him «Cyclops the Antiquarian» (Stosch wore a monocle) and «a man of
most infamous character in every respect» (Toynbee 1903, p. 103, n. 4). Although at least his scholarly reputation has since been more or less restored,11
3 This chalcedony intaglio, dated to the mid-first century BCE, is now in the British Museum, inv. GR 1867.05-07.389.
4 E.g. Justi 1872, pp. 335-336; Zazoff 1983, pp. 23, 186-190 and refs.; Gross 1990, p. 315 and refs; Rudoe 1992; cf. also Spier &
Kagan 2000.
5 For Ghezzi, see esp. Coen, Fidanza 2011.
6 For various aspects of gem-engraving and collecting in 18th-century Rome and elsewhere in Italy, the work of L. Pirzio Biroli
Stefanelli and G. Tassinari is fundamental, for Rome e.g. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli 1996, 2009.
7 «Un Seigneur de distinction des mes Amis, né pour l’avantage des Belles Lettres, & à qui j’ai beaucoup d’obligation, m’aiant
souvent exhorté à entreprendre quelque Ouvrage sur les Antiques» (Stosch 1724, p. III).
8 This is what they are called in Zazoff 1983, p. 6.
9 «Gestalten, wie sie nur im achtzehnten Jahrhundert möglich und stilgemäß waren: Menschen die sich ohne eigentlichen Reichtum,
R ang und Amt, ohne feste Erwerbungsquelle eine geachtete und gläntzende Stellung verschaffen, mit dem Großen der Erde auf
vertrautem Fuße verkehren, und ohne Gelehrte von Fach zu sein, Orakel der Gelehrtenrepublik werden. Ohne Zweifel, ist Philipp
Stosch der merkwürdigste unter ihnen» (Justi 1872, p. 295).
10 The artist P.L. Ghezzi, who for a period worked for Stosch, quoted in Justi 1872, p. 295; 1923, vol. 2, p. 265.
11 But cf. Gross (1990, pp. 318-319): «highly esteemed and consulted on all disputed questions of ancient art, but otherwise an
infamous and debauched character […] It is not impossible that he himself had a hand in the profitable business of counterfeiting
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the many entertaining but mostly malicious and unreliable stories that were circulated already in his
lifetime affected the reception of Stosch’s scholarly
activities negatively for a long time. But when his
impressive and fully illustrated book finally appeared in print in 1724, it firmly established Stosch
as an unquestionable international authority in this
increasingly important field of study and collecting
– even among the migliori antiquarii in Rome, who
were known not to be easily impressed.12 Stosch, by
then already a notable collector and dealer himself,
was now living in Rome and had made his home
into an important meeting place for these collectors, dealers and scholars, many of whom he already
knew well from a previous visit to the city which had
proved decisive. Stosch apparently got on well with
people who in one way or another were important or
useful to him, or – in the case of Francesco de’ Ficoroni and other more reluctant associates – at least
succeeded in establishing some sort of sufficient
working relation with them.13 He even possessed
a ‘talent’ for making people present him with gifts;
several of the prized items in his collections were
actually gifts from other collectors, starting with
Fagel, who donated his collection of ancient coins
to his young protégé.14
Stosch’s Geschichte15 tells us that he became interested in coins and medals and started collecting
these on a small scale very early in life. At the age
of 18, after briefly attending university at Frankfurt an der Oder, he decided he wanted to travel
and see the world. In 1710 Stosch arrived in the
Hague, where his uncle, the Prussian envoy Baron von Schmettau, introduced him into diplomatic
circles and notably to the influential Fagel, who
became an important presence in Stosch’s life. In
the following years, he travelled widely in Germany,
the Netherlands, Britain, France, Austria and Italy
on various minor diplomatic missions for Fagel and
Schmettau, and at the same time made numerous
important connections in the world of scholars and
collectors. Stosch in fact soon became one of the
most well-connected scholars of his generation,
with an extensive network that came to include
popes, royalty, statesmen, aristocrats, clergy, and
every collector and scholar worth knowing.16 Language, confessional, social and other barriers seem
not to have put many obstacles in Stosch’s way, and
from the start he appears to have been welcome to
study and copy gems in collections to which even
more renowned scholars were sometimes denied access. No doubt Fagel played an important role here,
employing Stosch as his own agent in procuring new
acquisitions and in this way opening various doors
to his protégé, encouraging him to start collecting
on a serious level and devote himself to scholarly
pursuits. On a visit to Paris in 1713/1714, Stosch
had been introduced to the Duc d’Orléans, Baudelot
de Dairval, Bernard de Montfaucon and others, and
had been greatly impressed by the discussions on
ancient gems in these learned circles. He had also
met the duke’s physician-in-ordinary, the chemist
Wilhelm von Homberg, who had just published a
study on the very useful art of making casts of engraved gems in coloured vitreous paste, and who
shared his knowledge with the young visitor.17 In
May 1714, Stosch confessed in a letter to Fagel that
engraved gems had now become «ma passion… ma
folie dominante» (quoted in Heringa 1976, p. 75, n.
5). Stosch may have had a finger in most areas of
the gemmomania that was emerging, as we shall
see. He studied, collected, traded, and published
a learned study of ancient gems; he made and collected gem impressions and casts, commissioned
[…] perhaps the most notorious example of a foreigner who profited from Europe’s greed for the treasures of ancient Rome by
dubious means».
12 «Vor allem aber war er ein Orakel für Sammler, denn er hatte mehr gesehen, mehr erworben oder prüfend durch seine Hände
gehen lassen, als irgendein Lebender» (Justi 1923, vol. 2, pp. 268-269).
13 «Ficoroni thought him an arch-imposter» (McKay-Quynn 1941, p. 336, no source given). Repeated in Gross 1990, p. 318.
14 «Groß war seine Gabe, Menschen für sich einzunehmen und sich von ihnen beschenken zu lassen» (Justi 1872, p. 296). For
Stosch and Fagel, see Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, vol. 5, 1754, p. 9, and esp. Heringa 1976, 1981.
15 Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, 5, 1754, pp. 1-54; cont. in vol. 10, 1757, pp. 257-301; and vol. 13, 1758, pp. 242-243. This is the main
source for the biography of Stosch in addition to his correspondence, partially published in Justi 1861; Heringa 1976, 1981. Cf. also
Justi, 1872, 1923; MacKay Quynn 1941; Lewis 1961, 1967; Zazoff 1983, pp. 3-67.
16 For Stosch’s extensive network of contacts, see esp. Lang 2007.
17 Homberg 1712; Stosch 1724, p. XIX; Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, vol. 5, 1754, p. 11.
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
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Ill. 2. Pier
Leone
Ghezzi, Two
famous
antiquarians
(Stosch and
Sabbatini),
1739.
Engraving by
Arthur Pond.
London,
British
Museum
(Photo
Museum).
Ill. 1. Pier Leone Ghezzi, Stosch and the antiquarians of Rome, 1725. Vienna, Albertina (Photo Museum).
drawings and prints of gems; he had modern copies
made of ancient gems in his own and other collections, and possibly also modified ancient originals
by adding details or inscriptions to make them more
interesting; he commissioned his portrait to be engraved on gems;18 he took part in learned discussions and corresponded on the subject of engraved
gems, and often used gems to seal his letters.19 If
we are to believe Charles de Brosses (which we are
not), Stosch even swallowed and stole gems (1861
[1768], p. 290).20
From April 1715 to May 1717 Stosch was in
Rome, where through Montfaucon he was introduced to the papal chamberlain Giusto Fontanini
and, through him, the pope himself, Clement XI.
He also befriended the pope’s nephew, Alessandro
Albani (1692-1779), who shared many of Stosch’s
interests and became a lifelong close friend and
correspondent.21 And he made sure that he was
introduced to all the notable antiquarians in the
city. A fter leaving Rome in 1717, Stosch travelled
back north via Florence, Venice, Vienna (where he
was made a baron),22 Prague and Dresden (where
he was made a Royal Antiquarian). A fter returning
briefly to the Hague on a diplomatic assignment
from the Dresden court, Stosch was able to return
permanently to Italy and Rome in 1722, now on a
‘secret’ mission from the British government to spy
on the Old Pretender, James Stuart, who lived as
the pope’s guest in Rome under the name of Chevalier de St George.23 Stosch was perfect for this
job, as he was already very well-connected in the
city and knew several people close to the Pretender.
He took up lodgings first in the Strada R asella in
the vicinity of the Palazzo Albani alle Quattro Fontane, then in via dei Pontefici (Noack 1928-1829,
p. 41). In 1727 his brother, Heinrich Sigismund
(1699-1747), joined him and a larger house was
18 Surviving portrait gems are by Francesco Maria Gaetano Ghinghi, Carlo Costanzi, Lorenz Natter, and Lorenzo Masini. Kagan
1985; E. Digiugno in Gennaioli 2010, p. 281.
19 E.g. Stosch to Andreini, 16 Sept. 1720. «Questa lettera è sigillata della gemma di Dioscoride che ho trovata in questi paesi»
(Justi 1861, p. 4, no. I).
20 This is the well-known but far-fetched story of Stosch, who during a group visit to Versailles became so obsessed with the thought
of having one of the gems in the royal collections, the so-called cachet de Michel-Ange, that he tried to steal it by swallowing it. But
he was found out by the custodian, had to take an emetic and return the stone to its proper owner.
21 On Albani and Stosch, see esp. Noack 1928-1829; Lewis 1961, pp. 38-62.
22 Stosch came from an old aristocratic Silesian family, which had fallen into poverty and had to give up their old title.
23 Stosch sent regular reports to London under the pseudonym of John Walton. On Stosch’s ‘diplomatic’ or spying activities, see
e.g. Noack 1928-1829; Lewis 1961; Keyssler 1751, pp. 467-72; Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, 10, 1757, pp. 288-299.
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rented in vicolo del Merangolo (via dell’Arancio)
behind the Palazzo Borghese (Zazoff 1983, p. 54,
n. 184). Stosch’s not very secret mission, coupled
with rumours about his atheism, masonic activities
and debauched lifestyle, seems to have made his
position and daily life in Rome somewhat awkward,
and from time to time he expressed a wish to leave
the city and return to either the Netherlands or to
England.24 But he stayed on. Stosch’s home, where
antiques, coins and especially gems were frequently discussed and changed hands, soon became a
regular haunt for the city’s leading scholars, collectors and dealers as well as foreign visitors. There
exist two well-known caricature drawings dated
1725 and 1728 of Stosch in his home with i migliori
antiquarii di Roma by the artist Ghezzi, who at the
time was a member of Stosch’s household.25 The
event depicted has been plausibly interpreted as a
coin auction (Justi 1872, p. 301), but many of the
people present were also important collectors and
experts on engraved gems.26 Stosch is portrayed
engaged in a discussion or negotiation with one
of the foremost gem specialists in the group, Marcantonio Sabbatini (1637-1724),27 while his owl is
perched on the back of his chair. In the back can
be seen a conspicuous sculpture fragment of a pair
of human, probably male, buttocks. On two other portrait drawings of Stosch alone, now in the
Vatican Library, Ghezzi has written «Fu esiliato da
Roma per la sua irreligiosità»,28 and «peccato che
sia eretico».29
Stosch had indeed been forced to leave Rome in
rather a hurry in 1731 for reasons that are not altogether clear.30 He went into exile in Florence, where
he was welcomed by Gian Gastone de’ Medici and
quickly positioned himself within the city’s learned
circles.31 He took with him his brother, his manservant Christian Dehn (1696-1770), and the two
artists Johann Justin Preißler (1698-1771) and Karl
Markus Tuscher (1705-1751), who had belonged to
his Roman household (Borroni Salvadori 1978, pp.
566-567). In Florence, Stosch first stayed at no. 46
via de’ Malcontenti before moving permanently to
the Palazzo R amirez de Montalvo in borgo degli
Albizi (no. 26) (Borroni Salvadori 1978, p. 568 and
refs.), where many scholars and grand tourists later
called to admire his astonishing museo full of antiquities, maps, prints and drawings, manuscripts,
books and other curiosities.32 Even in exile, Stosch
managed to keep many of his old contacts in Rome,
notably Albani, through whom it was possible for
him to continue to pass on information, mostly gossip, on the Pretender’s doings. This assignment was
very important to Stosch, as it was a major source
of income and furthermore guaranteed protection
from the British, who continued to pay for Stosch’s
services although he was not a very efficient or
useful spy. In Florence, Stosch became a founding
member of the masonic lodge (Borroni Salvadori
1978, p. 578),33 sponsored the «Giornale de’ Letterati» (Borroni Salvadori 1978, p. 601), and became
actively involved in various learned societies.
24 Zazoff 1983, p. 8 and n. 28; MacKay Quynn 1941, pp. 336-337. Cf. also Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, vol. 10, 1757, p. 297: «Der
Herr von S. hatte viele Feinde zu Rom, denen dergleichen lästerliche Ausstreuungen ohne Zweifel zuzuschreiben sind».
25 Vienna, Albertina, inv. 1263 (dated 1725); Rome, Bibl. Apost. Vat., Cod. Ottob. Lat. 3116, 191 (dated 10 Oct. 1728). Zazoff 1983,
pls 2-3.
26 The Albertina drawing from 1725 depicts Sabbatini, Stosch, Valesio, Andreoli, Fontanini, Ficoroni, Vitri, Palazzi, Odam, Bianchi-
ni, Grazini, Marsili, Strozzi, and Ghezzi himself. The later Vatican version, dated 1728, depicts Stosch, Ghezzi, Sabbatini, Valesio,
Fontanini, Marsili, Bianchini, Viti, Strozzi, Borioni, Campioli, Forier, Ficoroni, Grazini, Andreoli, and Palazzi.
27 Sabbatini was in fact already dead when the drawing was made. On Stosch and Sabbatini, e.g. Justi 1872, p. 303.
28 Rome, Bibl. Apost. Vat., Cod. Ottob. Lat. 3112 115. Zazoff 1983, pl. 5:3.
29 Rome, Bibl. Apost. Vat., Cod. Ottob. Lat. 3112 131a. Zazoff 1983, p. 16, n. 47 and pl. 5:2 (inscr. not visible).
30 There exist several accounts of this incident, e.g. a letter from Count Wackerbach in Rome to August II the Strong in Dresden,
dated 27 Jan. 1731 and quoted in Justi 1861, pp. 14-15. Cf. also MacKay Quynn 1941, pp. 337-338; Lewis 1961, pp. 87-90; Zazoff
1983, pp. 50-51; Lewis 1967, p. 320: «The Roman years were his best, most significant and probably happiest, and, wherever else
at different times he travelled or lived, the strange and murky Baron Stosch always seems something of an exile from the Rome of
his generation and of antiquity».
31 On Stosch in Florence, see esp. Borroni Salvadori 1978; Zazoff 1983, pp. 51-67; Fileti Mazza 2004.
32 The contents of Stosch’s museo are summarized in Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, vol. 10, 1757, pp. 257-287.
33 On Stosch’s masonic activities and involvement in the so-called Crudeli affair, see Casini 1972, esp. pp. 142-147.
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3 The Gemmae Antiquae Caelatae Project
Stosch was still in his early twenties when he embarked on his project to collect original gems, gem
impressions, casts, drawings and prints, study them
critically and publish his results. In 1716 he had already begun to commission drawings specifically for
his planned publication (Stosch to Cuper, 8 August
1716, quoted in Heringa 1976, p. 77 and n. 41). The
topic of ancient gems was at the time an excellent
choice, and Stosch decided to concentrate on gems
signed by their engraver. This focus on artists and
the increasingly important question of authenticity is interesting and revealing, and was of course
sparked by current discussions in antiquarian circles
and by Stosch’s personal contact with instrumental
scholars and collectors like Baudelot de Dairval and
the Duc d’Orléans in France, and Sabbatini, Leone
Strozzi and Pietro Andrea Andreini in Italy. Strozzi
and Andreini owned several signed gems that were
later included in Stosch’s book (1724).34 There existed a large number of such stones with inscribed
Greek names assumed to be those of ancient engravers. Many of these were suspected to be modern copies or fakes, because the interest in signed
gems made less scrupulous contemporary engravers add real or invented names of Greek engravers to ancient originals and to Renaissance or later
copies and pastiches, as well as to their own works
in order to increase prices and satisfy a growing
market demand.35 Stosch’s systematic, critical investigation aimed to rid the corpus of originals from
such fakes, and when his work was finally published
it added many new names to Pliny’s list and provided illustrated examples of these master-engravers’
work, thereby creating an even greater demand for
signed gems, and of course also facilitating for the
producers of new such forgeries. Stosch spent many
years travelling, systematically examining a vast
Ill. 3. Gemmae
antiquae
caelatae /
Pierres antiques
gravées, 1724.
Frontispiece.
number of originals and collecting books, drawings,
gem impressions and casts «que j’ay ramassé avec
une fatigue incroyable» (Stosch to Cuper, 8 August
1716, quoted in Heringa 1976, p. 77 and n. 41),36
and had soon acquired considerable first-hand experience and knowledge in the field. This was only
possible through his extensive travels including the
long sojourn in Rome, where he had ample opportunity to befriend leading scholars and collectors.
In a letter to Flemming dated 18 March 1721,
Stosch boasted that his library already contained
almost all books on this and related subjects.37
That same year his forthcoming publication, with
the preliminary title Recueuil [sic] des Pierres Antiques Gravées, où les Ouvriers ont mis leur nom…,
was announced to the readers of «La Bibliothèque
ancienne et moderne», and advance subscriptions
were being accepted from 1 August 1721 to 31 January 1722.38 Subscribers were promised a publica-
34 Strozzi: nos. 7, 18, 23, 26, 32, 58, 63 (originals), and 20, 37, 43, 52 61 (pastes); Andreini: nos. 5, 23, 45, 46, 54 and 68.
35 This was a widespread phenomenon. See e.g. Stosch 1724, p. XXI; Natter 1754, pp. XXVIII-XIX; Rudoe 1992.
36 Cf. also Winckelmann 1760, p. IV: «& le B. de Stosch dans ses voyages avoit eû l’avantage de faire mouler toutes ces pâtes sur
les pierres gravées mêmes, dans les meilleurs Cabinets de l’Europe».
37 «ma Bibliothèque, qui est composée de presque tous les auteurs, qui servent à l’intelligence de toute sorte d’Antiquités» (Justi
1861, pp. 6-7. no. II).
38 15/24 francs monoie de Hollande subscriptions. «Bibliothèque ancienne et moderne», 16, 1721, pp. 229-231: «Cet Ouvrage est
le fruit des longues & laborieuses recherches de Mr. le Baron de Stosch, dans les principales Villes de l’Europe; pour y voir les
pierres gravées, par les plus célebres Ouvrieres de l’Antiquité, comme Pyrgotele, Polyclete, Apollonide, Dioscoride & autres, dont
Pline parle, & particulierement celles où ils avoient mis leur noms».
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Ill. 4. Gemmae
antiquae
caelatae /
Pierres antiques
gravées, 1724.
Plate X.
tion within two years, and in 1724 the book was finally published by Bernard Picart in Amsterdam as
Gemmae antiquae caelatae scalptorum nominibus
insignitae / Pierres antiques gravées, sur lesquelles
les graveurs ont mis leur noms, with bilingual commentaries in Latin and French.39 Dedicated to the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI,40 and structured
alphabetically after the names of the engravers,
the work presented seventy gems,41 which the
sharp-eyed Stosch had managed to separate from
the many stones in circulation with fake inscriptions.42 The selection shows that he indeed had
a remarkable eye for detecting fakes. In the next
century, when Stosch’s reputation reached a low
mark and the many fake gems in circulation had
turned this field of study into a veritable minefield,
Heinrich Köhler dismissed most of the inscribed
gems in Stosch’s book as modern (1851 [1833]),
but he was later criticized by Heinrich Brunn
Ill. 5. Bernard
Picart, drawing
for Gemmae
antiquae
caelatae, plate
X. Private
collection,
London.
(1859, 2, pp. 461-462) and especially by Adolf
Furtwängler in his new systematic reassessment
of signed gems (1888-1889, 1900).43 Of the seventy gems in Stosch’s catalogue, only nineteen are
today recognized as clearly modern works, some
as dubious, and a small number of the remaining
inscribed names are believed to be modern additions or refer to owners rather than to engravers
(Zazoff 1983, pp. 27-29).
Stosch’s opus was fully illustrated with remarkably accurate engravings by Bernard Picart
(1673-1733), who also published the book. Picart
worked from drawings made by Ghezzi, Theodorus Netscher (1661-1728), Anton Maria Za­
netti (1679-1767), and especially Girolamo Odam
(1681-1741), and also directly from gem impressions, redrawing many of the gems, because the
extant drawings were found to be «ni de bon
gout, ni corrects» (Picart 1734, p. 8 [‘Eloge his-
39 On this book project, see e.g. Heringa 1976; Zazoff 1983, pp. 24-50; Whiteley 1999; R ambach (forthcoming). The idea that the
book should be published in both Latin and French apparently came from Fagel. Stosch to Fagel, 1 January 1715, cited in Heringa
1976, p. 78 and n. 50. The French translation was by H.P. de Limiers.
40 Stosch had originally wanted to dedicate his book to Fagel, who refused. Fagel to Stosch, 7 May 1723. Quoted in Heringa 1976,
p. 81, n. 86.
41 Stosch had originally selected sixty-nine gems, to which his publisher/illustrator B. Picart added a seventieth gem from the
collection of the Duke of Devonshire. Stosch 1724, p. 69, no. XLVIII.
42 «je ne doute point que les Pierres que je donne ici ne soient de véritable Antiques, & que les inscriptions qu’on y lit n’y aient
été mises par ceux même qui les ont gravées» (Stosch 1724, p. XXI).
43 For a good historiographic overview, see Zwierlein-Diehl 2005.
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
19
MDCCC, 3, 2014
torique’]).44 His plates, which are dated between
1719 and 1724, carry an enlarged image of the
actual engraving and also inform the reader of
the original size of the gem, its subject-matter, engraver, material, and collection. In his meticulous
drawings, Picart tried to convey as far as possible
the style and something of the personality of the
engraver. This was in accordance with the intentions of Stosch, who explained in a letter: «Dans
les explications des gravures j’espere de donner
au public une idee non seulement des figures que
les gemmes representent, mais la beaute de la
sculture en quoy differe le style de l’un de celui
de l’autre ouvrier» (Stosch to Cuper, 8 August
1716, quoted in Heringa 1976, p. 77). In the preface to his opus, Stosch dismissed the illustrations of earlier publications, which «fourmillent
de fautes»,45 and added: «en effet la beauté du
travail de tant d’anciens Graveurs, qui ont excellé
dans l’Art de graver en Pierres, méritoit bien que
l’on fît les dernier efforts pour representer exactement les figures qu’ils nous ont laissées sur un
si grand nombre de Pierres précieuses» (1724, p.
V). Nevertheless, these concerns did not result in
any further discussion on engraving techniques
or style in the accompanying catalogue entries,
which are rather conventional, dry and summary.46 But an important point had been made and
the publication undoubtedly established Stosch as
the foremost expert in the field; it is still regarded
as a milestone publication, modern in its focus
and approach.47 But there were suspicions that
the baron himself was not the real author of this
learned text; rumours were circulating that the
commentaries had been ghost-written by another
renowned antiquary in Stosch’s circle, the abbate
Francesco Valesio (1670-1742), who figures in
Ghezzi’s caricatures of Stosch’s circle and in the
same artist’s comment written under one of his
Stosch portraits: «Barone Stosc [sic], che pubblico un libro di gemme col nome dell’intagliatore, a
cui fece le spiegazioni l’Abb. Valesio».48 Doubts
on the truth of these allegations have been cast by
Jan Heringa (1976, pp. 82-83).49 Stosch was after
all by then an experienced expert in the field after
a decade of handling originals and studying the
relevant bibliography. But the instrumentality of
his extensive antiquarian network should certainly not be underestimated. In addition to Valesio,
there were many other people in Rome who knew
a thing or two about gems, notably Sabbatini and
Strozzi, whose views Stosch greatly valued. He
actually acknowledged the assistance of these
various unnamed people in the book’s preface.50
The beautiful and lavish folio volume was very
well received (e.g. Zazoff 1983, pp. 48-50). «Quelle
netteté, quel précision dans le travail!», exclaimed
Mariette later in his Traité, «Ses descriptions peignent avec des couleurs si vives & si bien assorties
le sujet dont il doit rendre compte, qu’on croit avoir
présent» (1750, vol. 1, p. 333). Unaware that Stosch
knew very little Latin (Zazoff 1983, pp. 53-54 and n.
180), Mariette recommended the Latin text before
H.P. de Limiers’ French translation, which according
to him distorted the author’s fine thoughts. He was also unimpressed by Picart’s illustrations: «cet Artiste,
44 On the illustrations, see esp. Heringa 1976; Whiteley 1999; R ambach (forthcoming). In a letter dated 7 May 1723, Fagel wrote
to Stosch «il me paroit que monsieur Picart n’a pas fait tort de demander les empreintes, parce que’un homme, qui a devant luy
la pierre originelle ou son empreinte avec le dessein qui en a esté fait, est plus capable d’entrer dans le veritable gout de l’antique
que celuy qui n’a que le dessein tout seul» (quoted in Heringa 1976, p. 80). In his preface, Stosch commended Odam, who «a dessiné lui-même très-exactement plusieurs de ces Pierres, qu’il m’a ensuite offertes de la maniere la plus obligeante» (1724, p. V).
45 «Aiant d’ailleurs remarqué que la plûpart de celles que ces Auteurs ont données fourmillent de fautes, & que, par la négligence
de ceux qui les ont dessinées, il s’en faut bien qu’elles soient conformes aux Originaux, j’ai cru qu’il étoit à propos de tirer en Verre,
en Soufre & en Cire des Empreintes de ces mêmes Pierres, recueillies de divers Cabinets, afin de conserver, autant qu’il seroit possible, la maniere de graver des Anciens, & d’en pouvoir donner par ce moyen des Desseins exacts & fideles» (Stosch 1724, p. III).
46 «j’y ai joint un petit Commentaire, qui n’est pas, à la verité, rempli d’autant d’éloquence & d’érudition, qu’on demande à présent
dans ces sortes de matieres» (Stosch 1724, p. XXI). Although the commentaries were lauded in Mariette 1750, vol. 1, pp. 329-334.
47 E.g. Zazoff: «nicht anders als im heutigen Sinne wissenschaftlich bezeichnet werden» (1983, p. 27).
48 Rome, Bibl. Apost. Vat., Cod. Ottob. Lat. 3112 115. Zazoff 1983, pl. 5:3.
49 Justi (1872, p. 334; 1923, vol. 2, p. 291) takes for granted that the real author was Valesio, as does Reinach (1895, p. 156). Zazoff
assumes that Valesio wished to remain anonymous (1983, p. 24).
50 «c’est un bonheur, dont je ne puis assez me feliciter, que tant d’habiles gens aient concouru, sans aucun motif de jalousie, à la
perfection de cet Ouvrage» (Stosch 1724, p. V).
20
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
MDCCC, 3, 2014
uniquement fait pour graver de jolies choses d’après
des Desseins de son invention, n’étoit point propre
pour l’entreprise sérieuse dont on le chargeoit» (p.
332). Many later critics agreed with Mariette in
this. It was not until the late 19th century that the
true value of Picart’s work was fully appreciated.51
Stosch had planned a sequel to his successful
book, with many more signed gems from his own and
other collections. This second volume was repeatedly referred to until Stosch’s death in 1757,52 and
he commissioned a large quantity of drawings for it
from the various artists who worked for him. Many
of these drawings survive (Zazoff 1983, pp. 54-57;
Coen, Fidanza 2001), but the book never appeared.
4 Stosch’s Own Gem Collection
Three of the gems in Stosch’s publication had been
in his own collection,53 which at the time of his death
in 1757 was the largest and most wide-ranging in
existence, consisting of 3 444 originals and glasspastes, and perhaps more than 28 000 gem impressions «von allen Steinen in der Welt», which the
baron had either made himself or managed to procure from all the major European collections.54 The
600 most valuable gems were set in gold, the rest
in silver, and the collection was stored in 30 large
chests with ten drawers each, thematically structured according to subject-matter, as was the usual
way. Stosch’s collecting was not governed primarily
by aesthetic considerations, he wanted his collection
to be representative of gem-engraving as a whole,
encyclopaedic in scope and a source of knowledge
about the life and customs of the Ancients.55
Ill. 6. Markus Tuscher, portrait medallion of Stosch, 1738.
Private collection, London.
Heinrich Sigismund helped his brother bring order among the many gems, pastes and impressions
in the collection, sorting them thematically and compiling a basic inventory list with brief descriptions
of subject-matter, information on provenance, comparanda etc. Together with the manservant Dehn, he
also assisted his brother in producing or procuring
impressions and casts of gems in various other collections that Stosch needed for reference purposes.
Stosch also employed a number of artists, many
of whom belonged to his Roman and Florentine
households. These included Ghezzi and his pupil
Odam, who did not follow Stosch in exile, and
Preißler and Tuscher who did, plus Georg Adam
Nagel (1712-1779) and Johann Adam Schweickart
(1722-1787) who joined the household in Florence.
These artists produced drawings and engravings of
gems and various antiques (Winckelmann 1760, p.
XXVII), as well as erotic drawings illustrating piquant passages from ancient authors,56 and notably
51 E.g. Reinach 1895, pp. 156-157; Furtwängler 1900, vol. 3, p. 409.
52 E.g. Vettori 1739, p. 7; Stosch to Venuti, 24 February 1739 (quoted in Engelmann 1909, pp. 333-334). Also Mariette 1750, vol.
1, p. 334; Das Neue Gelehrte Europa, 5, 1754, p. 50; R ambach (forthcoming).
53 Nos. 11 (Apollonides), 28 (Dioskurides), 54 (Polykletos). He also owned three of the vitreous pastes: nos. 2 (Aepolianos), 3
(Aetion) and 36 (Heius).
54 Zazoff says Stosch possessed over 30 000 impressions and casts (1983, p. 75). Winckelmann mentions 28 000 «empreintes en
souffre» (1760, p. XXIX). Gurlitt says there were 14 000 sulphurs in the collection (1831 [1798], p. 137). Cf. also Winckelmann to
Francke, 1 January 1759: «Herrn Lippert wünschte ich die große Sammlung von Schwefeln von allen Steinen in der Welt, so viel
man hat haben können: es sind deren an 14 000» (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 442-444, no. 261).
55 «Il renferme presque toute la Mythologie des Egyptiens, des Etrusques, des Grecs & des Romains, leur principaux usages, la
représentation de beaucoup de Faits mémorables de l’Antiquité, & les Portraits des plus fameux personnages» (Winckelmann 1760,
p. II). «Stosch war kein gewöhnlicher Sammler. Sein Ziel war wissenschaftliche Erkenntniß; die Sammlungen sollten das vollständige
Werkzeug enthalten für die Kenntniß der Alterthümer» (Justi 1872, p. 345).
56 The ‘erotica’ was apparently intended for the private library of Lord Carteret, who had hired Stosch to spy on the Pretender
(Lewis 1967, p. 323 and n. 7).
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
21
MDCCC, 3, 2014
worked on Stosch’s famous Atlas, a ‘giant scrapbook’ which at the time of his death comprised
324 folio volumes of maps, drawings and prints.57
Among the artists associated with Stosch was also
a talented gem-engraver from Biberach in southern Germany, Lorenz Natter (1705-63), who later
published a celebrated treatise on the techniques
of gem-engraving (1754).58 Natter, who had begun
his career engraving gems with heraldic devices,
had arrived in Rome in the early 1730s and met
various artists and collectors in the circles in which
Stosch had once operated. A few years later he was
in Florence, studying and copying the techniques
of ancient gem-engravers. In this he was especially
encouraged and applauded by Stosch: «nor did I
copy any Antiques till after my Arrival at Florence»,
Natter later wrote in his treatise, «where Baron
Stosch, being struck with my Taste and Application
to Engraving, did every Thing to make me apply
wholly to it» (1754, pp. xxviii-xxix; xxxii). Soon he
excelled in imitating the work of ancient masters.59
Stosch employed Natter to faithfully copy ancient
gems in his own and other collections, emulate
the styles and techniques of the ancient engravers, and possibly also to modify or add inscriptions
or artists’ signatures to ancient originals to make
these more interesting (Justi 1872, p. 336), al-
though this has never been proven.60 Natter often
signed his gems with his name in Greek letters
as NAT TEP or NAT THP, or translated into Greek
as YΔROΣ or YΔROY («water-snake», the meaning
of Natter in German) and also admitted to having put the name Aulos on a gem copied from an
original in Francesco Vettori’s collection (1754,
pp. xxvii-xxix). According to Winckelmann, who
later catalogued Stosch’s gem collection, Natter
had claimed to be the engraver of many ‘ancient’
stones in Stosch’s rich collection.61 To faithfully
copy older masterpieces was – and still is – a natural part of a gem-engraver’s training, and such
copies were not always made with the intention
to deceive. Book plates depicting gems, and later
the many collections of gem casts (dactyliothecae)
that workshops like Dehn, Lippert, Paoletti and
Tassie were turning out, provided a wide selection
of suitable models to copy.62
A fter his transfer to Florence, Stosch became one
of the most active members of the Società Colombaria and of the Accademia Etrusca in Cortona.63
He frequently sent drawings, engravings, impressions and casts of objects in his collections to be discussed at the sessions, especially at the well-known
notti coritane of the Accademia Etrusca.64 Stosch’s
Florentine period coincided with the culmination of
57 On the Atlas, e.g. Winckelmann 1760, pp. 571-596: ‘Catalogue abregé de l’Athlas du feu Baron de Stosch en 324 Tomes in Fol.
Grand Papier Imperial avec Cartes, Planches et Desseins’; Egger 1926. Lewis calls it a «scrap-book» (1961, p. 60).
58 Several other gem-engravers have been associated with Stosch, notably Carlo and Tommaso Costanzi, Flavio Sirleti, Giuseppe
Torricelli, Lorenzo Masini, Felice Bernabé, and Antonio Pichler. Even Pier Leone Ghezzi and Karl Markus Tuscher engraved gems.
E.g. Justi 1923, vol. 2, p. 290; and esp. Tassinari 2010a, 2010b.
59 «Hence I perceived with much pleasure that the ancient Engraver, who lived about two thousand Years ago, made use of the
same Sort of Tools as I did. And this Discovery animated me to exert all Abilities to reach the Perfection of the ancient Artists»
(Natter 1754, p. V).
60 Natter copied many ancient originals for Stosch, some included in his book (Nau 1966; cf. also Borroni Salvadori 1978, pp. 583,
595-596). There were rumours that several other engravers added names of Greek artists on stones for Stosch (Tassinari 2010a,
pp. 31-32 and refs.).
61 Winckelmann to Lippert, Spring 1762: «Da Euch endlich meine Beschreibung der tiefgeschnittenen Steine des Stoßischen Musei
zu Händen gekommen ist, so glaube ich, werdet Ihr aus dieser Arbeit selbst urtheilen können, ob es wahr sey, was Herr Natter,
berühmter Steinschneider, welcher itzo in Holland ist, allenthalben vorgiebt, daß wenigstens die Hälfte der beschriebenen geschnittenen Steine neu und größentheils von ihm selbst gearbeitet sey […] Unglaublich aber scheinet mir nicht, daß Herr von Stosch von
Herrn Natter Copien alter Steine hat machen laßen, und wenn dieselbe gerathen, es einigen jungern Anfängern in Liebhaberen
dieser Art zweydeutig gelaßen, ob es alte oder neue Arbeiten seyn» (Winckelmann 1957, pp. 15-18, no. 3). Also Winckelmann to
Stosch-Muzell, early October 1757: «unter uns beyden gesagt. Man redet doch immer von dem Kopf des Alexanders unter den
geschnittenen Steinen des Herrn Barons. Mich deucht, es ist eine Arbeit von einem Betrieger. Man sollte er nicht weiter erwehnen,
nachdem er bekannt gemacht ist, Ich werde mich über denselben erklären» (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 307-310, no. 192).
62 On dactyliothecae, e.g. Kockel, Graepler 2006; Knüppel 2009; Hansson 2010; 2012, pp. 39-44.
63 Stosch was also member of the Società del Museo Fiorentino, founded by Gori (A. Baroni in Gennaioli 2010, p. 282).
64 Bruschetti 1987, pp. 10-11; Borroni Salvadori 1978, pp. 575, 587-588, 604 and refs. «Von jeder Gemme, die er kaufte, jeder
Münze und Bronze sandte er Abdrücke, Zeichnungen, Beschreibungen» (Justi 1871, p. 25).
22
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
MDCCC, 3, 2014
Ill. 8.
Tydeus.
Etruscan
scarab,
early fifth
cent. BCE.
Berlin,
Antikensammlung
SMB
(Photo:
Johannes
Laurentius).
Ill. 7. «Gemma Stosch». Etruscan scarab, early 5th cent. BCE.
Berlin, Antikensammlung SMB (Photo: Johannes Laurentius).
Etruscheria following the posthumous publication of
Thomas Dempster’s De Etruria Regali (1723-1726,
written a century earlier) by Thomas Coke and Fi­
lippo Buonarroti. During the notte coritana of 18
January 1755, a very curious Etruscan scarab gem
changed hands and became the treasured property
of Stosch.65 This miniature masterpiece, later called
the Gemma Stosch and depicting five heroes from
the Seven against Thebes legend, had been found in
the territory of Perugia sometime before 1742 and
was already well-known and much discussed because of its interesting inscription naming the five
heroes represented.66 The gem was later famously
featured on the frontispieces of Winckelmann’s art
history (1764) and Mario Guarnacci’s Origini italiche (1767). It was presented to Stosch as a gift from
a fellow academician, Count Vicenzio Ansidei from
Perugia. In return, Stosch offered the count a cameo set in gold with the head of Apollo and a luxury
copy of Montfaucon’s L’antiquité expliquée (15 vols,
1719-1724). Anton Francesco Gori, who had been
the first to publish the stone, considered the inscription to be Etruscan, but Stosch was of the opinion
that it was Pelasgian, which was thought to be the
mother language of both Greek and Etruscan. There
was no doubt that the stone was of a very early date.
A few years earlier, at a Florentine dealer’s, Stosch
had discovered and purchased another interesting
Etruscan scarab gem depicting a nude hero and inscribed with the name tute (Tydeus), which he had
recognized as one of the names appearing on the
Seven against Thebes gem, already known to him
from Gori’s illustrated publications (1742, 1749).
In 1756, Stosch had the artist Schweickart make
engravings of the two masterpieces, which were
circulated among the members of the Accademia
Etrusca, Società Colombaria and other interested
people.67 These two important acquisitions were
65 E.g. Justi 1872, pp. 341-342; Zazoff 1974; 1983, pp. 58-63; Micheli 1984.
66 «trovato in uno scavamento nel agro Perugino» (Gori 1742, p. CXXVIII). The inscribed names are: tute (Tydeus), phulnice (Poly-
neikes), amphiare (Amphiaraos), atresthe (Adrastos), and parthanapaes (Parthenopaeus). The gem was first published in Gori 1742,
1749, and then in Antonioli 1757: «parlarono di poi di questa gemma i Sigg. Giornalisti di Firenze nel Tomo III, Parte I. Articolo
IX. Il Sig. Bianconi nel suo Libro Antiquis Litteris &c. il Sig. Passeri nella Dissertazione De Nummis Etruscis Paestanorum: e questi
due ultimi stimarono, che Etrusca fosse la Gemma, ed Etruschi i Caratteri in essa incisi» (p. VII). Cf. also «Novelle Letterarie»
1757, p. 267.
67 Engraving by J.A. Schweickart 1756, inscribed «Nomina Heroum quae adscripta leguntur Literis Graecis Antiquissimis.
Scarabaeum ex Sarda Vetustissimae Scalpturae singulare Monumentum, a cl. Gorio anno MDCCIL primo vulgatum, Philippus LB.
de Stosch ex propria Dactyliotheca summa diligentia iterum delineatum in aes incidi curavit Florentiae Anno MDCCLVI».
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
23
MDCCC, 3, 2014
later discussed in a letter to Giovanni Bianchi in
Livorno, where Stosch commented on the former
work «che sia poi il mio scarabeo sculptura greca, pelasga, o etrusca, ciò non impedisce, che non
sia uno de’ più rimarcabili intagli, che sinora si è
visto, e di antichissimo lavoro» (Stosch to Bianchi,
18 December 1756, quoted in Justi 1861, pp. 30-31,
no. XVI). It is still held to be one of the great masterpieces of ancient gem-engraving.
Stosch owned many such desirable stones. Horace Walpole, who was rather ambivalent to Stosch
as a person but very interested in some of his gems,
wrote yearningly that «I find I cannot live without
Stosch’s intaglia of the Gladiator with the vase. You
know I offered him fifty pounds. I think rather than
loose it, I would give a hundred. What would he do if
the Spaniards should come to Florence? Should he
be driven to straits he could part with his Meleager,
too?» (Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, 26 November
1749, quoted in Toynbee 1903, p. 131). In the end
Walpole got neither of the two, but this emotional outburst clearly shows the great attraction that
gems had in these circles. No price seemed too high
for some gems, which at times could be much more
expensive than ancient sculpture, and Stosch was
prepared to pay «qualsivoglia prezzo» for the Tydeus scarab (Stosch to Bianchi, 18 December 1756,
quoted in Justi 1861, pp. 30-31, no. XVI). Otherwise,
the baron seems to have been on the whole very
forthcoming in allowing scholars, collectors and
interested dilettanti to study and admire things in
his vast collections. He also freely provided people
with impressions, casts, drawings and prints of his
gems, but he rarely parted with his cherished originals, unless he was given something much better
in return or was very well paid (Borroni Salvadori
1978, p. 577, n. 46).
Ill. 9. A.R. Mengs,
Portrait of J.J.
Winckelmann,
after 1755.
Metropolitan
Museum, New
York (Photo:
http://www.
metmuseum.
org/collection/
the-collectiononline/search/437067).
5 Winckelmann’s Catalogue
A few years before his death, Stosch had expressed the wish that a catalogue raisonné of his
treasured gem collection be published by Johann
Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768). Winckelmann,
who had arrived in Rome in 1755 and was eager
to meet his illustrious older compatriot,68 sent
Stosch a flattering letter in French and enclosed
«une petite brochure, qui regard les Arts dont Vous
étes le plus grand Connaisseur et le Juge competent» (Winckelmann to Stosch, early June 1756,
in Winckelmann 1952, p. 227, no. 146).69 Stosch
was greatly impressed and in return wrote a letter of recommendation to Cardinal Albani, who
had remained his close friend and ally in Rome.
He also invited Winckelmann to visit him in his
Florentine museo,70 but this visit was postponed
several times for various reasons, notably because
of Winckelmann’s planned visit to Naples and Herculaneum.71 In the meantime, Stosch’s health deteriorated and soon his side of the correspondence
68 «Da er nun neuerdings wieder erfahren hatte, daß man von solchen Leuten mehr lernen könne, als aus Büchern, so stand bei
dem florentinischen Reiseplan die Figur des alten Herrn in Vordergrund; die hetrurischen Altertümer bildeten etwa die Umgebung;
die modernen Schätze, welche die Medici aufgehäuft, standen im Hintergrunde» (Justi 1923, vol. 2, p. 264).
69 This ‘broschure’ was of course his famous Gedancken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Wercke in der Mahlerey und Bild-
hauerkunst (Dresden 1755). The letter and booklet was brought to Stosch by the artist A.F. Harper.
70 «Stosch, zurückhaltend im Punkt des Mein und Dein, war um so liberaler mit seinem Notizen, R atschlägen, der Erlaubnis, seine
Sammlungen durch Anschauung oder durch Kopien, Abdrücke, Abschriften für wissenschaftliche Zwecke zu benutzen» (Justi 1923,
vol. 2, p. 268).
71 The journey did not take place until February-May 1758, when Stosch was already dead.
24
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
MDCCC, 3, 2014
was taken over by his nephew, Heinrich Wilhelm
Muzell (1723-1782),72 who had recently moved
in with his uncle, been adopted and designated
sole heir. Muzell-Stosch, or «Stoschino» as he
was sometimes called, met with Winckelmann in
Rome in the spring of 1757,73 the two became close
friends and corresponded regularly (in German)
right up until Winckelmann’s premature and violent death in Trieste in 1768. It was long assumed
that Winckelmann had never had the opportunity to meet the old Stosch in person.74 There are
however indications that the two might have met
briefly in 1756, when Stosch apparently made an
unexpected appearance in Rome.75
Stosch died on 6 November 1757 at the age
of sixty-eight, leaving an estate valued to around
100 000 ducati and comprising astonishing collections of gems, coins, maps, drawings, manuscripts
and books.76 Muzell-Stosch, who wanted to travel
in the Orient and elsewhere, immediately started
negotiating the sale of everything with potential
buyers and engaged various friends in trying to
circumvent the statutory 7,75% estate tax (Lewis
1967, p. 326). He also renewed his uncle’s offer for
Winckelmann to publish what he initially intended
to be a simple sales catalogue of the valuable gem
collection,77 and on 2 September 1758 Winckelmann finally left Rome for Florence. But upon seeing the remarkable collection of originals, pastes
and impressions in Stosch’s «amplissimo magazz-
ino» (Winckelmann to Bianconi, 29 October 1758,
in Winckelmann 1952, pp. 428-429, no. 248),78 he
decided it indeed deserved a more ambitious catalogue raisonné, like the old Stosch had wanted
(Winckelmann to Baldani, 26-30 September 1758,
in Winckelmann 1954, pp. 418-419, no. 240).79
Such a publication would better serve Winckelmann’s own interests as an emerging scholar in
antiquarian circles. He was at the time also working on his ambitious venture of writing a comprehensive history of the art of the Ancients, and there
were obvious benefits to be had from working on
the two projects side by side. In Stosch’s well-furnished library, Winckelmann had access to most of
the relevant bibliography both on gems and ancient
art in general, plus he had the baron’s encyclopaedic collection of sulphurs (Winckelmann 1760, p.
XXIX). So, instead of staying in Florence for a couple of months, as he had initially planned,80 Winckelmann remained in Stosch’s house as MuzellStosch’s guest until May the following year, and
the whole commission took him about 18 months
to complete.81 «Comme je possède présentement
mon Compatriote l’Abbé Winckelmann, j’espère
de faire avec son aide un Catalogue des Pierres
gravées qui fera honneur à la memoire de feu mon
Oncle», Muzell-Stosch reported to his uncle’s old
friend Albani, «Du moins nous y travaillons sans
relache» (Stosch to Albani, 10 October 1758, in
Winckelmann 1957, p. 123, no. 78).
72 On Muzell-Stosch, e.g. Schartow 1909; http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Wilhelm_Muzell (accessed 2014-05-04).
73 Winckelmann to Genzmer, 20 November 1757 (Winckelmann 1954, pp. 312-315, no. 194). Cf. also Winckelmann 1760, p. I.
74 Winckelmann to Muzell-Stosch, 25 November 1757 (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 315-316, no. 195).
75 Noack cites a letter from a German visitor in Rome, who mentions that Stosch was visiting the city in 1756 and staying in via
Giulia, and that on this occasion he met with Winckelmann and his artist friend, A.R. Mengs (1928-1929, p. 87).
76 A summary of Stosch’s various collections is given in «Das Neue Europa», 10, 1757, pp. 257-287; 13, 1758, pp. 242-243. Cf. also
Barthélemy 1801, pp. 24-25, who says that Stosch «a depouillé l’Italie»; De Brosses 1861 [1768], pp. 289-290.
77 «un simple catalogue des pièces qui le composent, & les Circonstances dans les quelles se trouvoient» (Winckelmann 1760, p. I).
78 Winckelmann to Hagedorn, 13 January 1759: «das stärkeste in der Welt. Des Königs in Frankreich Cabinet kommt hier nicht
einmal in Vergleichung» (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 444-449, no. 262).
79 Winckelmann to Valenti, 26-30 September 1758: «Il soggiorno di Firenze e piu faticoso che delizioso per me: lo scartabellare
il Museo del fu Baron di Stosch m’a immerso in tante ricerche, che non so dove dar capo ne dove terminare» (Winckelmann 1954,
pp. 417-418, no. 239).
80 Winckelmann to Mengs, late September 1758: «Io credo di tornare a Roma sul principio del Novembre, quantunque abbia dato
la mano di fare un Catalogo raggionato (raisonné) delle Pietre e Paste del Stosch» (Winckelmann 1954, p. 414, no. 234). But cf.
also Winckelmann to Francke, 4 Feb. 1758: «Der einzige Erbe von Stosch, mein Landsmann und guter Freud, both mir auf sechs
Monat Quartier, Essen etc. an» (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 225-228, no. 201).
81 Winckelmann reported on his work in Florence in several letters. Cf. esp. to F. Hagedorn, 13 January 1759 (Winckelmann 1952,
pp. 444-449, no. 262).
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
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MDCCC, 3, 2014
This was not Winckelmann’s first encounter with
engraved gems. In the library of Count Heinrich
von Bünau at Nöthnitz near Dresden in the early
1750s, he had read Stosch’s famous book,82 Mariette’s Traité and other works on gems (Winckelmann 1755, pp. 11, 17; Pomian 2000, p. 13 and n.
3). He had also studied and discussed gem originals
and especially impressions and casts with Dresden friends like the painter Adam Friedrich Oeser
(1717-1799), and especially Philipp Daniel Lippert
(1702-1778), who had then recently embarked on
an ambitious project to collect and publish casts
of ancient engraved gems hidden away in various
princely and private collections throughout Europe.
Lippert did not travel himself, but commissioned
his many friends and connections to visit collections and collect gem impressions, from which he
made casts in a white plaster-like material of his
own invention. The casts were published in thematically arranged collections with catalogues in
Latin and German.83 Winckelmann himself assisted
Lippert in obtaining gem impressions and casts in
Rome, notably from Stosch’s former manservant,
Christian Dehn (e.g. Winckelmann to Lippert, 7
July 1756, in Winckelmann 1952, pp. 239-240, no.
154),84 who was now the proud owner of a very successful business in Rome where he sold selections
of coloured zolfi (sulphurs) and pastes of gems to
grand tourists and scholars, even to the pope. So
Winckelmann was fully aware of the many advantages of engraved gems when he set to work on
Stosch’s enormous collection.
It was a very ambitious project indeed. Even
if Winckelmann reported that he went to the op-
era in the evenings (Winckelmann to Franke, 30
September 1758, in Winckelmann 1952, pp. 421422, no. 243) and enjoyed «tutto il commodo, la
quiete e una bel.sima veduta» in Stosch’s house
(Winckelmann to Mengs, late September 1758, in
Winckelmann 1952, pp. 414-415, no. 235), he was
in fact working hard. To the Abbate Ruggieri at
the Vatican press, he wrote: «La gran roba del fu
Sig. Stosch mi tiene occupato tutta la giornata e
sera non esco mai. Sollecitato dal Nipote ho dato
mano ad un Catalogo degl’Intagli: ma non volendo
fare un semplice Indice mi sono tanto ingolfato
che non trovo fine e non credo di poterlo terminare» (Winckelmann to Ruggieri, 3 October 1758, in
Winckelmann 1954, pp. 242-243, no. 245).85 A few
months later, he admitted that never before in his
life had he worked as hard as this (Winckelmann
to Volkmann, 1 December 1758, in Winckelmann
1952, pp. 439-441, no. 258: «Meine eselmäßige
Arbeit ist mir fast unabsehlich, und ich weiß nicht,
ob ich sie werde endigen. Ich habe in meinen Leben noch nicht so stark gearbeitet»). Later still,
he confessed that his work on Stosch’s gems had
been so hard and relentless that he had only had
time for a thirty-minute break each night, and
that this hard work had negative effects on his
nerves and bowels (W inckelmann to W iedewelt,
18 August 1759, in Winckelmann 1954, pp. 21-23,
no. 296).
The collection to be catalogued comprised 3 444
engraved gems and glass pastes.86 In addition,
there was the astonishing collection of 28 000 gem
impressions, most of which were later acquired by
James Tassie in London, who made and sold casts
82 Winckelmann to Stosch, June 1756: «Je vous dois cet hommage de mes primices, Monsieur, ayant été instruit et éclairé par Votre
ouvrage illustre et me glorifiant de l’honneur d’être Votre Compatriote» (Winckelmann 1952, p. 227, no. 146).
83 A pilot edition of 1 000 casts with a simple descriptive list was published in 1753, then followed the impressive Dactyliotheca
Universalis (Leipzig 1755-1762) with 3 000 thematically arranged casts and a catalogue «in künstlerisches Latein», for use by
scholars and students; a selection of 2 000 casts with a catalogue in German (Daktyliothec, Leipzig 1767) which mainly targeted
artists, and a final Supplement with an additional 1 000 casts (1776). E.g. C. Kerschnel & V. Kockel in Kockel, Graepler 2006, pp.
69-77; Hansson 2010; 2012, pp. 41-42.
84 Winckelmann to Francke, 1 January 1759: «Herrn Lippert wünschte ich die große Sammlung von Schwefeln von allen Steinen
in der Welt, so viel man hat haben können: es sind deren an 14 000» (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 442-444 no. 261).
85 Also Winckelmann to Valenti, September 1758: «Il soggiorno di Firenze e piu faticoso che delizioso per me: lo scartabellare il
Museo del fu Baron di Stosch m’a immerso in tante ricerche, che non so dove dar capo ne dove terminare» (Winckelmann 1952,
pp. 417-418, no. 239).
86 Part of the material had already been sold. The Christian and Persian gems went to the Cavaliere Francesco Vettori (Justi 1871,
p. 24), and many of the Egyptian scarabs were acquired by the Duke of Nola, Giovanni Caraffa, who was a friend of Stosch’s and a
member of the Società Colombaria (Borroni Salvadori 1978, p. 614, n. 249). Some scarabs were also reported to have been sold to
a Duke Caravanca in Naples (Gurlitt 1831 [1798], p. 140) but maybe Caravanca and Caraffa are one and the same person. Cf. also
Winckelmann to Stosch (Winckelmann 1954, pp. 4-5, no. 274; pp. 6-7, no. 279).
26
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
MDCCC, 3, 2014
of them in various materials.87 Winckelmann did
not have to start from scratch, as the material was
already roughly structured and inventoried by the
late baron and his brother. But after the latter’s
death in 1747, Stosch had apparently been too busy
with his Atlas and other activities to update this
catalogue, leaving recent acquisitions and gems
with images that he had trouble interpreting unclassified.88 Where the engraving techniques and
style of the engravers were concerned, there was
probably very little information to be had from this
manuscript catalogue, which was most likely written in French but has unfortunately not survived
(Rügler 2013, p. XVII). Muzell-Stosch took an active
interest in the project from the start and had even
initiated the work of classifying these remaining
gems himself (Rügler 2013, pp. XIV-XVI and refs.).
Winckelmann seems more or less to have preserved Stosch’s original structure (Winckelmann
to Muzell-Stosch, 11 August 1759, in Winckelmann
1954, pp. 78-79, no. 292: «Was die Ordnung des
Catalogi betrifft, so sehe ich nicht wohl ein, wie
es die vorige Ordnung verrücken kann; es bleibet
alles an seinem alten Orte»).89 An idea about how
he envisioned the catalogue can be had from his
Anmerkungen aus dem Stossischen Museo (Winckelmann 1957, pp. 6-12, no. 1a).90
Shortly after the work was begun, Winckelmann’s
employer in Rome, Cardinal Alberico Archinto, died,
and he was offered a new position as librarian to
Stosch’s old acquaintance Alessandro Albani, who
had inherited parts of Clement XI’s library. Both
Winckelmann and his host in Florence felt it necessary to write to Albani, asking him to prolong
Winckelmann’s leave so that he could finish his important project in a satisfactory way (Muzell-Stosch
to Albani, 14 and 18 October 1758, in Winckelmann
1957, pp. 124-125, nos. 80-81). Albani was understanding and repeatedly expressed his admiration
and support of their work.91 But it soon became
clear to everyone involved that this ambitious project could not be completed in Florence, but had to
be continued in Rome.
Although W inckelmann had ample time to acquaint himself with the gems during his eightmonth stay in Stosch’s museo and reported on his
hard work to various friends and acquaintances,
later authors have doubted that he actually did
much work directly from the originals (Furtwängler 1900, vol. 3, p. 416; Zazoff 1983, p. 74).
Instead he used Stosch’s manuscript catalogue
and basic classification system with mythological
and historical sections and various sub-classes as
point of departure for his own work, and probably
limited closer examination to only the more interesting works in the vast material. He also worked
from a limited number of especially ordered sulphur and wax impressions of the most interesting stones, which he took with him or requested
when he left Florence (Winckelmann to Walther,
26 September 1758, in W inckelmann 1952, pp.
415-417, no. 236: «Unterdessen kann die Arbeit
nach den Schwefeln und Abdrücken von denselben welche ich mit nach Rom nehmen würde fort-
87 «Sulphur of Stosch implies an impression taken from and preserved in that numerous collection of Sulphurs which the late Bar-
on Stosch formed, and which, post varios casus, at last has found its way into Mr. Tassie’s cabinet. To this fortunate circumstance
we are beholden for much valuable information, and in particular for our almost complete set of the Cabinet of Florence» (R aspe
1791, p. lxiv).
88 Winckelmann to Baldani, 26/30 September 1758 (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 418-419, no. 240); Winckelmann to Mengs, late
September 1758 (p. 414, no. 234). «qu’il ne manquoit pas de ces morceaux sur les quels le feu Baron de Stosch lui même n’avoit
pas ôsé dire ce qu’il pensoit, outre que pendant les dernieres années de sa vie il avoit négligé encore de donner des dénominations
aux pièces qu’il avoit nouvellément acquises» (Winckelmann 1760, p. II). Stosch’s manuscript catalogue is referred to in entries
II, nos. 534, 909, 1768, 1823; III, nos. 226, 247; IV, nos. 22, 26, 83, 214. Justi assumes that Winckelmann based considerable
parts of his text on Stosch’s (1923, vol. 2, pp. 293-294). «Nach dem allen ist die Description, wie sie uns vorliegt, der Katalog
des Barons und seines Bruders, den Winckelmann mit Berichtigungen, Vorschlägen, Noten und einigen ausführlichen Exkursen
vermehrt hat» (p. 297).
89 Also Winckelmann to Muzell-Stosch, 16 June 1759: «Die Eintheilung in Classen ist nicht die Beste, und scheinet in der That keine
andere als eine Ordnung nach so viel Kasten. Da sie aber einmal gemachet ist, so kann und will ich sie nicht ändern» (Winckelmann
1954, pp. 6-7, no. 279).
90 Cf. also Winckelmann to Hagedorn, 13 January 1759 (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 444-449, no. 262).
91 Albani to Muzell-Stosch, 14 October 1758 (Winckelmann 1957, p. 124, no. 79); 18 November 1758 (p. 125, no. 81); 14 April 1759
(p. 126, no. 84); Albani to Winckelmann, 18 November 1758 (p. 75, no. 41); 13 December 1758 (pp. 76-77, no. 43); 10 February
1759 (p. 77, no. 44); 24 February 1759 (pp. 77-78, no. 45); 31 March 1759 (pp. 79-80, no. 47).
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
27
MDCCC, 3, 2014
gesetzt werden»).92 Returning to Rome in May
1759, W inckelmann thus continued his work on
the side of his new, rather light duties as Albani’s
employee (Winckelmann to Wiedewelt, 18 August
1759, in Winckelmann 1954, pp. 21-22, no. 296:
«von dem Cardinal monatlich zehn Thaler, und
habe dafür keine andere Obliegenheit, als ihm
zur Gesellschaft zu dienen, und der Aufseher seiner großen und gewählten Bibliothek zu seyn»).
A fter a short pause, he corresponded regularly
with Muzell-Stosch about practical matters until
the long printing process, which began in late
September 1759, was completed (W inckelmann
1954, pp. 34-35, nos. 308-309). In Rome there
were many connoisseurs around to discuss gems
with, and even Albani took a personal interest in
the project. But many important Roman gem collections unfortunately remained inaccessible to
Winckelmann.93 The rich correspondence between
Muzell-Stosch and W inckelmann after the latter’s return to Rome suggests that Muzell-Stosch
played a very active part in coordinating the project work, sending Winckelmann gem impressions,
looking up references, translating and editing text
etc. (Rügler 2013, pp. XIV-XV and refs.). MuzellStosch never paid W inckelmann for his work
(p. XXIII and refs.). In Florence he lived as the
guest of Muzell-Stosch, and the rest of the work
was carried out when he was on Albani’s payroll.
The result was finally published in April 1760
by Andrea Bonducci94 in Florence in quarto format as Description des pierres gravées du feu Baron de Stosch, with an appropriate dedication to
Albani,95 and a foreword by Muzell-Stosch. Two
versions were printed, one un-illustrated and
one luxury edition with Stosch’s portrait, drawn
by J.J. Preißler after Edmé Bouchardon’s famous
bust and engraved by Georg Martin Preißler. This
latter edition also included eleven of Schweickart’s engravings of Stosch’s gems with inscribed
artists’ names.96 The catalogue was divided into
eight classes according to Stosch’s old thematic
system based on subject-matter rather than on
time periods or styles (Winckelmann to MuzellStosch, 16 June 1759, in Winckelmann 1954, pp.
6-7, no. 279: «Die Eintheilung in Classen ist nicht
die Beste, und scheinet in der That keine andere
als eine Ordnung nach so viel Kasten. Da sie aber
einmal gemachet ist, so kann und will ich sie nicht
ändern»). Winckelmann focused mainly on gems
in the first three classes while he was still working in Stosch’s house: I, Hieroglyphes (Egyptian
and Persian gems); II, Mythologie sacrée; III, Mythologie historique. Back in Rome, Albani assisted
him with some of the portraits in class IV: Histoire
ancienne (Winckelmann 1954, pp. 10-11, no. 282).
Of the gems in the remaining classes (V, Jeux, Festins, Vases &c; VI, Vaisseaux des Anciens; VII, Animeaux; VIII, Abraxas, Gravures avec des Caractères
Orientaux & Gravures Modernes), vases and ships
etc. were left to an old friend of Stosch’s, the Abbé
Joannon de Saint-Laurent, who had an interest in
gemmology and engraving-techniques (Saint-Laurent 1746, 1751) and who also translated Winckelmann’s text into somewhat old-fashioned French.97
Winckelmann’s Foreword, probably written in Ger-
92 C. Justi remarked: «Man darf wohl sagen, alles, was Winckelmann von Italien aus über griechischen Stil lehrte, wäre ohne
Lipperts Werk [gem casts] leerer Schall geblieben» (1923, vol. 2, p. 398).
93 The Colonna, Chigi, Ludovisi and Barberini collections were closed to Winckelmann (Justi 1923, vol. 2, p. 298).
94 With the exception of foreword and indices, which were printed by Pagliarini in Rome in March 1760. The Vatican printers,
headed by Winckelmann’s correspondent Ruggieri, supplied the Etruscan fonts.
95 The dedication was very appropriate, as Albani had been one of the late Stosch’s closest friends and allies. He had also assisted
Winckelmann in the work, especially with portraits, and it was moreover in Albani’s palace in Rome and at his expense that work
on the publication had been completed (Winckelmann 1954, pp. 21-22, no. 296). Winckelmann to Muzell-Stosch, 7 July 1759: «was
die Köpfe betrifft, so hat sich der Herr Cardinal erbothen, dieselben mit Fleiß zu übersehen und was zu finden ist anzugeben. In
dieser Kenntniß ist er gewiß stärker als alle Antiquarii» (Winckelmann 1954, pp. 10-11, no. 282).
96 Cl. II, nos. 110, 434, 1240, 1494, 1553; III, nos. 120, 172, 174; V, nos. 9, 122; VII, no. 543.
97 Interestingly, these last classes of gems were omitted altogether in a later German edition of the catalogue (Winckelmann 1825,
p. 613). Although he was no fan of French culture, Winckelmann frequently corresponded in a sometimes idiosyncratic French. But
cf. Winckelmann to Wiedewelt, 18 August 1759: «Ich habe französich geschrieben, und mir den Stil von einem gelehrten Franzosen [Joannon de St Laurent] durchlesen lassen» (Winckelmann 1954, pp. 21-22, no. 296). The catalogue was to be published in
French so as to increase sales, but also because Stosch’s manuscript catalogue was probably written in French (Rügler 2013, pp.
XIII, XVII-XVIII).
28
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
MDCCC, 3, 2014
man, was translated by Muzell-Stosch.98 As Winckelmann implied in his preface, he wanted to add an
aesthetic and historical dimension to Stosch’s dry
antiquarian treatment of the gems.99 But as Justi
pointed out (1923, vol. 2, p. 308), the aesthetic terminology remained somewhat vague and consisted
mostly of words like beau, fini and finesse.100 Unsurprisingly, the two Etruscan gems received most
attention in this and other respects (Winckelmann
1760, pp. 344-350, nos. 172, 174).101 Winckelmann
presented the already famous Gemma Stosch, today plausibly dated to the first quarter of the 5th
century BCE, as not only the earliest «Hetrurian»
gem, but the oldest artwork in existence, and also
accepted Stosch’s opinion about the inscriptions
being Pelasgian (Winckelmann 1760, pp. 344-345:
«Car la forme des lettres & la formation des paroles different beaucoup de l’Etrusque commun &
tiennent plutôt de la langue Pélasgue, qui est regardée par les Savants comme la mére, soit de la
langue Etrusque, soit de la langue Grecque»). This
stone was to ancient gem-engraving what Homer
was to poetry: «La gravure ensuite est exécutée
avec un soin extrème, & elle est d’une finesse qui
surpasse beaucoup l’idée qu’on a des ouvrages
d’un antiquité si reculée. C’est par là qu’elle nous
autorise à juger avec fondement de la Prémière
Manière de l’art» (Winckelmann 1760, p. III, and
pp. 344-347, no. 172: «Il faut avertir le Lecteur en
premier Lieu que cette Pierre est non seulement
le plus ancien Monument de l’Art des Etrusques,
mais aussi de l’art en général»). The Tydeus gem
was singled out as the most beautiful work in the
collection, on a par with the very best in Greek art:
«celle-ci l’est assurément de la plus haute perfection de celui des Anciens Etrusques: elle est executée avec une précision & avec une finesse qui
ne cédent rien aux plus belles Gravures Grecques»
(Winckelmann 1760, pp. 348-350, no. 174). Winckelmann otherwise rarely commented on style and
technique at such length as he did here, making
comparisons with Etruscan and Greek art in general, and even with later periods in the history of art.
Even if the publication was initially not as well
received and sales as good as Winckelmann and
Muzell-Stosch had hoped for,102 it was the first systematic catalogue of its kind and as such soon became a model for other publications and «ein Muster einer wohl einzulegenden Daktyliothek» (Gurlitt
1831 [1798], p. 139, footnote).
Muzell-Stosch’s brother103 was the physician-in-ordinary to Frederick II of Prussia, who
was one of the prospective buyers of Stosch’s magnificent gem collection. In 1766, the king finally
acquired it for his Antikentempel in the garden at
Sanssouci, Potsdam (R ave 1957, p. 26).104 The negotiated price was 30 000 ducati or 12 000 Thaler. Part
of the sum was paid as an annuity to Muzell-Stosch,
who was appointed Hofrat, librarian and keeper of
the royal collections of art and naturalia, a position that Winckelmann had originally aspired to.105
In 1801, the collection was transferred to the City
Palace in Berlin, from where some 500 gems were
taken as booty by Napoleon in 1806 and carried off
to Paris. The gems were returned in 1815, and the
whole collection is now in the Antikensammlung of
98 It has been suggested that Winckelmann wrote all his parts in German and had them translated (e.g. W. Rehm in Winckelmann
1954, p. 378).
99 Winckelmann 1760, pp. IX-X: «La Connoissance de l’Art consiste principalément dans la difference de la maniere tant des
Nations, qui des Siècles, & dans le sentiment du Beau. C’est ce que nous avons principalément consideré dans les Morceaux que
nous avons de ceux qui nous sont restés des Égyptiens, des Étrusques & des Grecs […] le sentiment du Beau, qui est la seconde
partie de la connaissance de l’Art, concerne principalément les Gravûres Grecques» (of which, in reality, there were exceedingly
few among Stosch’s gems).
100 See critical discussion in Zazoff 1983, pp. 82-91.
101 See also Winckelmann to Hagedorn, 13 January 1759: «Der erste ist ohne Zweifel das älteste Denkmal der Kunst in der Welt,
und folglich einer der seltensten Schätze, die man aufweisen kann. Der andere lässet uns die Kunst der Hetrurier in ihrer höchsten
Schönheit sehen und giebet einen Begriff von der Kunst kurz vor ihren Flore unter den Griechen» (Winckelmann 1952, pp. 444-449,
no. 262). Winckelmann 1764, pp. 99-101.
102 On the reception of the book, e.g. Justi 1923, vol. 2, pp. 303-304; Zazoff 1983, pp. 76-77.
103 Friedrich Ludwig Hermann (1716-1784). Schartow 1909.
104 The collection had earlier been offered to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Parma (Zazoff 1983, p. 132 and refs.).
105 Muzell-Stosch’s appointment was made already in 1765 (R ave 1957, p. 26).
Hansson. «Ma passion… ma folie dominante»
29
MDCCC, 3, 2014
the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.106 In his preface,
Winckelmann claimed that «on ne trouvera pas
dans nos pierres gravées des Ouvrages modernes,
comme il y en a dans presque tous les Cabinets»
(Winckelmann 1760, p. XI: «& quant aux Copies,
que le feu B. de Stosch a fait faire d’après des Originaux fort rares, par d’habiles Artifices elles ont été
scrupuleusément indiquées»). Of the 3 442 items
that were catalogued after the collection had been
transferred to the Berlin Museums, 887 originals
and pastes were found to be modern.107
Viewed in retrospect, Stosch’s extensive collecting activities and publication are not only a milestone in the very long history of this field of study,
they represent the first – although in some respects
tentative – attempts at a focused, systematic exploration of ancient gem-engraving in a modern,
scholarly sense. Winckelmann’s un-illustrated catalogue, which contained the seeds to many ideas
later elaborated in his art history, long remained a
model for how collections should be structured and
published. In 1827, a frustrated Eduard Gerhard
found that, in spite of the many publications that
had followed, there had in fact been little or no
real progress in this field of study since Winckelmann (1827, p. 289). It was not until the late 19th
century that Adolf Furtwängler re-examined almost
the whole preserved corpus of ancient gems and
thoroughly changed the face of gem studies in a
series of publications (Furtwängler 1889-1890;
1896; 1900), in which he both directly and indirectly acknowledged his indebtedness to these illustrious forerunners.
sur le prétendu Solon des pierres gravées. Explication d’une medaille d’or de la famille Cornuficia.
A Paris: chez Jean-Baptiste Lamesle.
Borroni Salvadori, Fabia (1978). «Tra la fine del
granducato e la reggenza: Filippo Stosch a Firenze». Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore
di Pisa: Classe di Lettere e Filosofia, ser. III, 8
(2), pp. 565-614.
Bruschetti, Paolo (1985). «Gemme del Museo
dell’Accademia Etrusca di Cortona». Annuario
dell’Accademia Etrusca di Cortona, 22 (15), pp.
7-70.
Casini, Paolo (1972). «The Crudeli affair: Inquisition and reason of state». In: Gay, Peter (ed.),
Eighteenth-century studies presented to Arthur
M. Wilson. Hanover: University Press of New
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